The Trinity River Toll Road Exemptions

Several Friends of Unfair Park are wondering this morning when Jim's going to weigh in on the news that Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison added to the Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2010 two exemptions that will make it easier for the city to build the Trinity River toll road between the levees, no matter what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Federal Highway Administration say. He'll do so in the comments below.He has a separate item forthcoming.

What you see above is some of the language from the spending bill itself -- the part in which Hutchison, acting on the city's behalf, says the FHA doesn't have to follow the sections of the U.S. Code dealing with the preservation and protection of "the natural beauty of the countryside and public park and recreation lands, wildlife and waterfowl refuges, and historic sites." Also included in the bill is a paragraph dealing with potential historic designation for the levees, in which the senator says even if the Corps designates the levees as historic, preventing the construction of the toll road, well, never you mind.